A true folk music icon, Judy Collins will be performing at the Paradise Performing Arts Center, 777 Nunneley Road, on Sunday, Feb. 23.

She has delighted audiences worldwide with her timeless folksongs and inspiring performances over a career that spans over 50 years and more than 40 albums.

She grew up in a musical family in Denver, originally training as a classical pianist. By age 10, she was studying with mentor Antonia Brico, the famed orchestral conductor who was the subject of her 1974 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, "Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman."

At 13, Collins made her performance debut performing Mozart's "Concerto for Two Pianos."

Soon after that, however, she discovered traditional folk music, the work of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and other folk singers, and fell in love with traditional and contemporary topical music and by 16, she picked up the guitar and was singing at Folk clubs around the country.

"I found Folk music during a time in my life when I was very impressionable," Collins said. "I was enchanted with those kinds of songs. They were different then anything that I had ever known."

She began her career singing both traditional songs and contemporary folk tunes written by songwriters like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs.

She also brought great attention to songs by artists like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell.

In 1961 at 22, she released her first album, "A Maid of Constant Sorrow," which began a 35-year association with Elektra records.

Collin's 1966 release "Both Sides Now" from her acclaimed album Wildflowers, earned her the first of many Grammy nominations and is now enshrined in the Grammy's Hall of Fame.

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes" came the following year, featuring guitar work by Stephen Stills, with whom she was romantically involved. She was the inspiration for his Crosby, Stills and Nash classic "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."

Collins was one of the premier American folk singers, becoming active in the forefront of the Civil Rights movement and the struggle for peace during the Vietnam War.

"Taking stands against injustice, gave us a lot of personal satisfaction in the '60s," she said. "Just like what's happening in our society today.

"The Occupy Wall Street movement is an indication that people are fed up and want to try and change things. We're not perfect, in our efforts but at least the impulse to create a better world is there."

Collins later, accepted an appointment with the United Nations as a UNICEF Representative for the Arts, campaigning against the use of land mines and the many children who are killed or injured by these weapons.

"We were taught in my family that we should be active and involved with things," Collins said. "To be a part of the communal energy of working for good around us and to be a part of the movement for social justice, equality, and good government.

"My dad, encouraged me to do what would make me happy in life, whatever that was. He didn't regard you as a girl or boy, black or white, it didn't make any difference to him. He reminded you, that he was blind, and saw no differences in others anyway, and that everyone should have their human rights."

Now at 74 years old, she is still actively writing and touring, bringing her relentlessly creative spirit to audiences worldwide.

She has a biography out called, "Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music," along with two children's book's titled, "When You Wish Upon a Star," and "Over the Rainbow." And there's her recently released CD called "Bohemian."

"It's really an album concerned with issues of life," she said, "which I've always talked about with my music.

"Songs of protest, of love, anger, pleasure, of romance. I wanted to get that feeling of the '60s and I wanted people to think of their future and where we are all going."